EVEN TRENT REZNOR CAN’T BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME

Trent Reznor talks almost as much shit about other musicians as Kerry King does, but it’s usually excusable as a) he’s hilarious, b) he’s right and c) he’s so much cooler than most rock stars that even if he’s wrong, it’s still not very bothersome. For example, I once read an interview where Reznor said he remembers exactly where he was the first time he heard Alanis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know,” and that remembering where you were when you first heard that terrible song was his generation’s equivalent of remembering exactly where you were when you found out JFK had been killed. Now, that’s obviously melodramatic (and ironic, considering that Reznor’s one-time collaborator Dave Navarro played guitars on that song), but it’s also totally hilarious.

So. Drummer extraordinaire is leaving Nine Inch Nails, and Reznor has hired twenty year old (!!!) Lostprophets drummer Ilan Rubin* (pictured above) to take Freese’s place.

In a statement, Reznor explains that he saw Rubin “playing his ass off” with Lostprophets at a UK festival a couple of years back and that Rubin “blew me away.”

Now, here’s the thing: Lostprophets suck. I think they suck at least as bad as Alanis. And maybe Rubin is a great drummer – I don’t hear it but whatever – but replacing Freese, who is inarguably one of the best rock drummers in the world today, with a guy from some shitty emo band can’t be making many NIN fans jump for joy.

Oh well. The good news is that NIN’s music features so many drum loops and samples that I’m not really convinced you need a great drummer anyway.

-AR

*Note to Vince: Gotta be a Jew, right???